The Moon Prince
by Kolbie Ru-Ru
Summary: Tsuna is thirteen, dame, and friendless when a baby named Reborn crashes into his life and brings with him news that changes Tsuna's entire world irreparably. In one world, he is told he is to be the head of a powerful mafia family. In another, Reborn smirks as he says, "You're the reincarnation of the Moon Prince, Dame-Tsuna." [Eventual Romance. Sailor Moon AU.]
1. i'm a what?

**Notes: I have no excuse for this. It's entirely self-indulgent, and it's only loosely based on Sailor Moon. I'm borrowing a lot of names, concepts, and basic plot points, but I'm combining it with tons of KHR! stuff, too. It's been about six years since I've seen Sailor Moon, so my knowledge is kind of shaky anyway. This will probably be only five or six chapters - if that. This was hastily written and edited by me just now, so please excuse any mistakes. Otherwise, enjoy!**

* * *

 **I.**

"Moon Prism Power, Make-up!" Tsuna yells with much more confidence than he feels, holding his hand adorned with the Moon Ring high above his head as Reborn commanded.

Almost immediately, his vision grows to a blinding white, forcing him to close his eyes, and he's overcome by strong feelings of familiarity and warmth and home. He's not sure what this strange, welcoming power is, but when it beckons him to move, he does so willingly. The transformation almost seems like a dance, and though Tsuna doesn't have an elegant bone in his body, even he can admit his motions during the dance-like trance are smooth and regal. When it's over, however, his weight and control over his own limbs suddenly return to him, and he wobbles a little on his feet.

Once stable, he looks down at his body. White shorts that barely reach the middles of his thighs and sturdy, white boots have replaced his jeans and sneakers. He exclaims dumbly and then examines his hands, which are covered in white gloves that end just before his elbows, and he notices his ring is still somehow on the outside of the glove. There are earrings in his ears - they weren't even pierced! - and some sort of steel headband or tiara with what he thinks is a jewel is nestled on his forehead. His shirt is also white with short, puffy sleeves, an orange collar, and a big, orange bow in the center.

"What?! What is this?!" He shouts, panicking as he tries to pull the shorts down to cover the indecent amount of leg that's now showing. "Reborn! Change me back!"

The sadistic 'adviser' only smirks at him, and Tsuna's not even sure why he bothers at this point. He's only known Reborn for a few weeks, and it's already become quite clear that Tsuna won't receive any genuine sympathy or concern from the other. "That's the official Senshi uniform, Dame-Tsuna, and I won't have you tarnish centuries of tradition just because you're embarrassed," Reborn says with far too much amusement.

"Well, this is Earth, and here, this is completely inappropriate!" Tsuna shrieks despite knowing that this battle has already been lost. The shorts won't budge, maybe because they're weird, alien magic clothes, and he doesn't know how to change them back. As if reading the resignation on his face, Reborn practically reeks of satisfaction. Tsuna groans in utter dismay.

 **II.**

The bad guy Tsuna's supposed to take down or something is actually a bad _lady_ , and since he's never bought into the whole 'women are weaker than men' thing, he's suitably terrified of her. The zombie-like people in this restaurant she's running are scary, too, and Tsuna wilts a little at the prospect of- of _fighting_ anyone.

"See that, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn pulls his hair to the left, and he obediently turns his head toward whatever Reborn wants him to see.

The bad lady walks into the back (presumably, the kitchen) and then comes out with two huge platters of truly awful, toxic-looking food. "Why would people eat that?!" Tsuna whispers, horrified, as a man happily digs into the purple mush on his plate. Is that a bone sticking out?!

Reborn says, sounding serious for once, "It's because they can't see what you're seeing, Dame-Tsuna. To them, it's delicious, high-quality food when in actuality it's from the Netherworld, and every bite they take drains a significant portion of their life energy."

"What?! You mean that gross stuff is killing them?" Tsuna asks, shakily, glancing around at the dull-eyed people of Namimori with concern. Some of those are students at his school! And worse, his mom was talking about heading here tomorrow to check out the restaurant that's on everybody's lips. He can't let that happen.

"Then go in there and stop her," Reborn orders, and Tsuna wonders not for the first time if his adviser can read minds.

Tsuna gulps as the meaning of those words - and what he has to do - sink in. He's clumsy and forgetful and dame, and someone else would definitely better for this job than he. But there _is_ no one else. He'll have to do. He stands up, equally determined and scared, and Reborn smirks at him.

"What do I have to do?" Tsuna asks now that's he decided to go along with this.

"You'll need this," Reborn says, and his lizard, Leon, spits out a pair of mittens with little crescents on them. He throws them at Tsuna, who barely manages to catch them, and instructs, "Put them on and say, 'Moon Prism Power Gloves.'"

Warily, Tsuna does so, and the cutesy mittens glow a bright white as they transform into black leather gloves with silver coloring the fingers and blue orb-like things on the backs decorated with the word "MOON" in curly text. "Whoa," he murmurs as he checks them over - because these actually look really cool.

"Remember your training," Reborn advises as he hops off Tsuna's shoulder and lands softly on the ground in the alley they're hiding in. "You'll be fine."

Said training had begun almost three weeks ago when Reborn had showed up out of the blue and declared Tsuna the long, lost Prince to the Moon Kingdom and himself to be Tsuna's adviser. Tsuna had been understandably skeptical and had tried to shoo the crazy baby away, and Reborn had quickly proven to be as weird as he'd claimed when his lizard turned into a gun and had been used to shoot at Tsuna.

His mom had taken a shine to Reborn as soon as she met him despite Tsuna's fervent wishes, and so he'd been stuck with the adviser from that day forward. The past three weeks have been wild and life-threatening feats one after the other, and Tsuna had quite reluctantly been forced to learn some hand to hand combat somewhere along the way. That's probably what the gloves are for anyway, and Tsuna supposes he really should have seen this coming.

"Get going," Reborn orders, kicking Tsuna towards the side door to the building that they'd figured leads into the kitchen.

He staggers forward but catches himself, and with an irritated glance at Reborn and a subconscious, futile tug at his way too short shorts, he moves closer and reaches for the doorknob. It turns easily, and he sighs because of course it would. He eases the door open and peeks inside. It is the kitchen, and if he weren't sure, the fowl smell and horrid dishes scattered around the counters and stovetops would certainly confirm it.

No one's around, and he doesn't hear anything, so he steps inside and closes the door behind him. Covering his mouth and nose with his hands, he cautiously navigates the eerily darkened space and heads for the only other door in the room. Going by the light underneath it, Tsuna guesses it'll take him to the main dining area.

Before he gets there, voices suddenly sound from his right, and he hastily ducks behind a counter and crawls into the small space under it as the bad lady emerges from an unnoticeable opening in the floor at the far wall that looks like it might go to a basement.

"The love energy pouring off of these fool humans should be enough to soothe Byakuran-sama," the woman practically purrs to someone Tsuna can hardly see from his vantage point.

"Very well. Keep up the good work, Bianchi," a smooth, masculine voice replies, and then the silhouette flickers and vanishes.

Bianchi smiles cruelly as she wraps her arms around herself and gushes, "Soon, Byakuran-sama will see my worth, and he'll ask me to rule the galaxy at his side as his queen." She hums a jaunty tune as she grabs more food platters and returns to the dining room.

Tsuna shudders, grossed out by the strange woman's apparent crush, and a squeaky voice in his head reminds him, "What are you waiting for? Go after her, Dame-Tsuna."

He jumps, startled, and he hits head on the counter above him. "Oww," he groans quietly, glad no one seems to have heard him. But where did that voice come from?

"Your earrings. They're not just for show. They're a highly advanced communication device developed by the best scientist in the Moon Kingdom," Reborn informs him, and Tsuna only starts a little this time. "You didn't think I was going to leave you to this battle by yourself, did you?"

Tsuna refrains from the immediate 'yes!' that had sprung to mind (because that sounds exactly like something his sadistic adviser would do) and instead says, "Well, what do I do? I've never been in a fight before!"

"Confront her. Fighting is in your blood, Dame-Tsuna. Just let your instincts take over," Reborn tells him, seriously.

"...Okay," Tsuna eventually says, releasing a defeated sigh as he gets back to his feet. 'I can do this,' he thinks loudly over the constant denials running through his head. 'I'm the Moon Prince.'

He scrounges up every last bit of courage he possesses and bursts through the door just as Bianchi is holding up a struggling Mochida Kensuke by his neck. She stops at his dramatic entrance, and they both look over to Tsuna.

Clearly judging him as she does a full sweep of his frilly outfit, Bianchi demands, "And who might you be, little boy?"

Tsuna fumbles for a moment and then strikes (what he hopes is) a heroic pose - with his hands on his hips and his legs parallel to his shoulders. Head held high, he announces brashly, "I'm the Moon Prince! A-and in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

What is he doing?! He regrets the words as soon as he says them, but then again, he's been regretting a lot of things since Reborn inserted himself into Tsuna's life. One more embarrassing incident is just par for the course, really.

Bianchi raises an eyebrow, and after a long moment, she throws her head back and laughs. It's not a kind or pretty laugh, and it raises the hairs on the back of his neck. She drops Mochida in the process, thank goodness, and the middle schooler hurriedly crawls away from her. "Prepare to die, little prince," she drawls and holds up a toxic platter in each hand.

Without warning, she throws them both at him as well as many other horrid, purple dishes, and probably only thanks to Reborn's Spartan training methods is Tsuna able to dodge all of them. When he looks back, the mush has actually burned holes through any surface it touched. And people have been eating this stuff?!

"Stay still, you little pest!" Bianchi growls, and Tsuna does no such thing.

"What am I supposed to do?!" Tsuna mutters fretfully, diving behind a table as three green plates of unidentifiable slabs of meat fly over his head.

Reborn chimes in, "Get close to her and attack. You're not doing anything by just dodging."

Grudgingly agreeing with him, Tsuna moves away from his cover, which has now been partially eaten through by Bianchi's poison cooking, and rushes toward her while weaving in and out of the path of her projectiles. He can see her becoming increasingly frustrated as he gets closer, and once right in front of her, he ducks under a wildly thrown punch and gives her one of his own. She doubles over, and Tsuna grabs her face and brings it up to meet his knee. He spins around and kicks her, and she's thrown back into a table with two of her zombie customers.

Uncertainly, Tsuna watches her struggle to get to her feet. "No... No! My love! I won't be defeated here!" She screams desperately, and her body morphs into something utterly inhuman. "You! I'll kill you!"

"Tsuna! Yell 'Moon Flames'!" Reborn barks into his ear, and dumbly, Tsuna follows the order.

"Moon Flames!" He yells, and his hands are engulfed in bright, orange flames. He feels a thrum of power accompany them, and suddenly, he knows exactly what she's going do, how she's going to move, and what he needs to do to stop her. It's all so clear, and his blind panic has been replaced with calm certainty.

She puts her arms together as she prepares her biggest attack, and Tsuna places his hands behind his back and wills the flames to propel him forward. In an instant, he's across the room and next to her. He grabs her face with his hand and drags her along on his momentum. She crashes into the wall, and he lands beside her, hand still on her face. Instinctively, he pushes his flames to cover her entirely, and she disintegrates before his eyes, purified of the darkness in her soul.

Everything's quiet after that, and the darkness in the restaurant visibly recedes, leaving a normal building behind. The civilians all collapse to the floor, and even they seem livelier and more colorful than before. Tsuna's flames putter out, and he stares unseeingly at the place Bianchi's body had just been.

A familiar weight settles on his shoulder. "Good job, Dame-Prince," Reborn says. "Let's go home, or Maman will worry."

Tsuna nods and exits the restaurant silently, and as soon as he's out of sight of any prying eyes, the transformation reverts him back to his normal clothes. At home, he greets his mom, and he climbs the stairs and heads to his room. Once there, he collapses on his bed and falls asleep instantly.

* * *

 **End Notes: Whaa?! No Tuxedo Mask? Don't worry. This AU will definitely have everyone's favorite hero. I've got all the Senshi accounted for, as well as the Arcobaleno and the Millifiore, but if anyone's got any suggestions for plot points or scenes they'd like to see, let me know. I'm always open to new ideas.  
**


	2. a neat game

**Notes: Thanks for the reviews! I wasn't sure anyone would be interested in this, haha. This is just as hastily written and edited as chapter one. I'll proofread them both again tomorrow with fresh eyes, but for now, please enjoy this.  
**

* * *

 **I.**

Dutifully, Tsuna heads toward the batting center Reborn told him about, inwardly worrying about the adviser's motives. Tsuna's never been coordinated enough to be more than decent at any sport, so he's suspicious about the sudden need to practice his swings at some fancy rec center. He's even more wary about this because Reborn hasn't left his side once since he arrived - at least, not when they're going on self-imposed missions, which Tsuna suspects this most definitely is - and Reborn mysteriously had other things to do. He droops as he considers the very real possibility that Reborn has tossed him to the wolves and fully expects him to handle things by himself now.

As if answering his concerns, dark energy hits him as soon as he's within sight of the pristine building, and Tsuna braces himself against it to keep from getting sick. He remembers Reborn said something about the evil, dark energy rebelling against his pure, light energy, which is what's making him nauseous, and he curses the world in general and his adviser in particular for the umpteenth time that day. Once the urge to vomit subsides, he sneaks around the side of the building and peeks into one of the large windows.

The now familiar sight of pale, dead-eyed people greets him, and Tsuna feels his need to help them harden into resolve.

He goes back around to the entrance and walks inside. He spots a woman at the front desk, and he moves over to her. "Excuse me," he says, and she regards him with a painted on smile. "Um, I'd like to sign up for the..."

"Batting cages?" She finishes for him when he trails off uncertainly. He nods, and she pulls out a clipboard. "Sign your name here." He does so, and she prints out a card for him and hands it over. "The first day is free. Keep this card on you since you're not a member yet and return it to me when you leave," she explains patiently.

Tsuna accepts the card with a weak smile, inwardly grimacing at the energy he can already feel being sucked away by it. As soon as he rounds the corner out of her sight, he tosses it in the trash and does his best to shake off the dizziness it caused. He shudders to think what the people who have been under that drain for hours must feel, and the thought urges him on.

He goes down the hall and enters the room with batting cages, which is a giant gym with high ceilings and what he's sure is state-of-the-art equipment. There are about twenty people in this room, twelve in the cages and the rest pitching against the padded walls. They all look so worn out he's surprised they're still on their feet, but it's not like Tsuna really understands what that energy drain does or how it works.

"Hi there, are you here to work in your batting or your pitching?" A well-groomed man in glasses appears before him with a friendly smile.

Tsuna returns it weakly. "Batting," he says - because Reborn probably had a reason for telling him to do that exercise specifically. He usually does, even if they're sometimes nonsensical.

"Excellent," the guy says, and he guides Tsuna to an open cage at the end of the row. "The bat is there, and you press this switch to start and stop the machine at anytime. Have fun."

Tsuna nods, and the guy leaves him alone. Even without his Hyper Intuition, he can tell the man is bad news. Just standing near him makes Tsuna on edge, which seems to be the case for the stronger youma he's faced. He slumps, already exhausted just thinking about the upcoming battle. Ugh.

Nonetheless, he steps inside the cage and picks up the bat, and he glances around idly before beginning. He stops short when he spots Yamamoto Takeshi in the cage next to him.

"Yamamoto-kun?" slips out in his shock, and the boy looks over at him before returning his attention the frankly insanely fast pitches being thrown at him.

He hits them one by one, his pace far outshining the rest of the zombie-like customers around them. He doesn't seem that tired, and he's only a little pale. "Hey, Dame-Tsuna," Yamamoto offers him genially enough.

"Hi," he replies uncertainly. "How long have you been here, Yamamoto-kun?"

"Oh, uh, since this morning, I think?" Yamamoto says in the midst of his next swing. He laughs as he admits, "I'm not too sure."

'How can you not know?!' Tsuna can't help but think hysterically, but another part of him points out that the drain probably affects one's sense of time, too. Otherwise, these people would definitely leave sooner.

And then he realizes. If Yamamoto's been here that long, why hasn't he collapsed yet? And why does he still seem so fresh compared to the guy who arrived after Tsuna did and - he cranes his neck to check - is barely standing up straight?!

Tsuna asks, awkwardly, "Sorry to bother you again, but did you get a card at the front desk?"

"Hmm, nope," Yamamoto replies carelessly, hitting what would definitely be a home run out on the field. "I'm a regular here, so I didn't need one."

So that's it. Just standing in this building is a drain on him, but it's the card that's pulling in the most energy. Yamamoto only looks a little worn out because of the residual effects of everyone else's cards.

Tsuna hits a few pitches and then quickly excuses himself to the bathroom. Once there, he locks the door and transforms into his Moon Prince uniform. "Reborn!" He whispers, hoping the adviser is listening in. "I'm going to- attack now," he says lamely.

"You're too slow, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn scolds, and Tsuna is instantly reassured by that squeaky voice. "Just do what you've been doing. I'm watching from the next building."

"How is that helpful?!" he whispers fretfully, and he hears a huff of a laugh. "Reborn!"

"You can do it. Quit complaining," is the only answer he gets.

He curses the adviser once again and then does exactly what he told him to do. He makes his usual dramatic entrance, and everyone seems to freeze and stare at him.

"I'm the Moon Prince, and I'm here to punish you in the name of the Moon!" He announces, stupid poses and all. It doesn't feel quite so foolish after the tenth time, and now he even manages to inject the words with his righteous fury.

"Moon Prince, I've heard of you," the creepy guy says, adjusting his glasses. "You've foiled Byakuran-sama's plans one too many times, and I'll be the one to stop you."

 **II.**

"Crap," He mutters, glaring at the youma helplessly. Every time he dodges an attack, it curves around and heads for one of the still practicing zombie civilians, so he has to boost over to it and disperse it with his flames. It's tiring him out fast, and he's not sure he can protect everyone and beat the guy at this rate.

"Hey, glasses," a voice shouts tauntingly, and Tsuna whips around to stare at Yamamoto in shock. What's he doing?! Frowning, Yamamoto holds up a bat and challenges, "Why don't you fight someone who can actually fight back instead of firing at innocent bystanders?"

Tsuna almost yells, _"This guy clearly doesn't care about hurting innocents!"_ But he holds it in, his Intuition telling him to let this play out.

"Oho?" The youma says, condescendingly. "And is that someone _you_ , per chance?"

"Yeah, it is," Yamamoto replies evenly. He levels the bat at the youma. "Whaddya say? Wanna try me?"

"Why not?" The youma smirks, and there's dark amusement in it. He spreads his arms wide, invitingly. "I'll give you a free a shot, human. Go on. Try it."

Yamamoto's frown grows severe, and he charges the youma and swings the bat as hard as he can at the demon's head. A hand flies up to catch it, faster than Tsuna could see. Yamamoto blinks in surprise. The youma slings him aside like a ragdoll, and Tsuna leaps forward to catch him before he hits the wall.

"Are you all right?" Tsuna asks him worriedly, his eyes still trained on the smug demon on the opposite side of the room.

"Yeah," Yamamoto breathes, and Tsuna can feel how hard his heart is beating right now.

He must be so scared, but he tried to help Tsuna anyway. He smiles a little sadly and turns to the other boy. "Thank you for your help, Yamamoto-kun, but I've got it from here."

Yamamoto stills at his words and then looks up to meet his gaze. His eyes widen, and then his face grows unreadable. Tsuna stands up and glares at the youma, leaving Yamamoto to stare up at his back. The battle resumes.

 **III.**

"He's so cool, and I'm useless," a high-pitched voice breaks Takeshi out of his thoughts. He looks toward said voice and finds a baby in a suit. "That's what you're thinking right now."

"Maa, how did you-"

The baby's expression darkens, and Takeshi cuts himself off. "You got me," he admits, forlornly.

"Do you really want to help him?" The baby asks, head tilted toward the boy who calls himself the Moon Prince and who is at this moment protecting all of them. It'd be ridiculous if it weren't his reality right now.

Takeshi regards the question seriously. Baseball has been more of a chore than anything lately, and he's no good for anything else. Truthfully, when he saw that small kid fighting so hard, it stirred something within him, something protective and instinctive. He'd wanted to help, had felt it in his bones, and when the boy smiled at him so sadly, he'd been stricken with the need to wipe it off his face. There's big things going on here. Even he can tell.

So he looks the baby in his eyes and says, "I do." And his heart sings.

 **IV.**

The youma grabs hold of his ankle when he gets too close, and he tosses Tsuna hard against the far wall. He coughs in the ensuing cloud of smoke and forces himself to his feet. It's then he notices his adviser and his classmate watching him a few feet away.

Suddenly, Reborn tosses Yamamoto a ring like his and commands, "If you really want to help, put that on and say, 'Mercury Power, Make-up.'"

Yamamoto looks confused for a moment, but his face grows determined as he nods once, decisively. He slips the ring on, thrusts it above his head, and shouts, "Mercury Power, Make-up!"

Water bubbles up from the floor and surrounds him like some sort of vortex, and a bright light shines as his body disappears underneath it. When the water disperses, Yamamoto's regular clothes have been replaced with a uniform almost identical to Tsuna's save for the color scheme. Yamamoto's collar, bow, and boots are all light blue as opposed to his orange.

"Take this," Reborn gives him another magical item - a sword? Where was he even keeping that?

Yamamoto accepts the katana with a thanks and falls into a battle stance like he was born to do it. Tsuna stares at him, gobsmacked. What the hell's going on?!

Not one to be forgotten, the youma screeches, "Now there's two of you, eh? Well, bring as many little boys as you like. It won't save you." He gears up for another attack, and Tsuna drops into his own stance, ready to intercept that beam if need be. There are still too many people in here that could get hurt by a stray shot.

"Moon Prince," Yamamoto says suddenly. Tsuna glances over at him, and once the other boy catches his eye, he grins. "I've got this."

Yamamoto rushes forward at the same instant the youma releases his beam. He brings up his sword and blocks the attack, and miraculously, it bounces back into the face of its creator. The youma tumbles backwards, and Yamamoto is on him before he gets back to his feet.

"Mercury Axle of Rain!" He calls out, thrusting his blade into the stomach of the downed demon. Blue fire leaps up the blade, and their enemy promptly disintegrates, signaling the end of the battle. Yamamoto stands up and sheathes his sword. The civilians drop like puppets with their strings cut, and all of the energy the demon had collected flows out of the building.

"That went well," Tsuna murmurs, exhausted. He finally allows himself to fall back on his hands.

"Better than I expected," Reborn says, popping up beside him.

Yamamoto moves over to the them, smiling a lot more genuinely now. "So you're the hero everybody's talking about," he addresses Tsuna genially. "I couldn't see it before, but now it's pretty obvious."

Reborn explains, "That's the power of the transformation. It not only gives you access to your powers, but it also conceals your identities. Only other Senshi can see through the deception."

Tsuna raises an eyebrow. "I honestly thought the uniform was just to embarrass me. You mean it actually has a purpose?"

"Of course it does, Dame-Prince," the sadistic baby retorts smugly.

Tsuna sighs.

Yamamoto asks, "So I'm one of those Senshi, too?" He laughs and props his hands behind his head. "What a neat game."

"It's not a game," Tsuna deadpans, but Yamamoto isn't paying attention to him anymore.

He bends down next to Reborn. "Thanks for the cool toy, little guy," he says gratefully.

"Welcome back, Guardian Mercury," Reborn says in return with no small amount of satisfaction.

Yamamoto laughs again, and Tsuna despairs at the both of them.

* * *

 **End Notes: Is it sad that I'm** ** **more** excited about putting the whole cast in booty shorts than anything else? That's probably what's spurring me on to write this, honestly, haha. Anyway, sorry for any mistakes and especially that fight scene. Still open to new ideas. Let me know what you think~!  
**


	3. tsuna despairs

**Notes:** ** **Thanks to Toraffles for the last scene and for giving me so many wonderful ideas to play with in future chapters. I'm afraid I didn't do it justice, but it was really ridiculously fun to write! I'll make sure to point out your lovely contributions whenever they pop up! To everyone else, I hope you enjoy!**  
**

* * *

 **I.**

After learning about his role as Guardian Mercury, Yamamoto has apparently warmed up to the idea of saving the galaxy or whatever Reborn claims their 'destiny' is. Tsuna's only about sixty percent sure the other boy understands what that actually entails. Frankly, he doesn't really care about his supposed past life or his duties as the Moon Prince or whatever. He just wants to live a normal life and grow up to be a normal adult and not do _abnormal_ things like transform into a revealing sailor uniform and fight crime like the protagonist of some magical girl anime.

Alas, his sadistic adviser is apparently above the qualms and concerns of a mere thirteen year old boy, even a magical one, and Tsuna's very valid protests fall on deaf ears. At least Yamamoto seems to be having fun.

"Yo, Tsuna," the other boy calls out to him, heedless of the various gossiping classmates around them.

"Hey, Yamamoto-kun," Tsuna greets him as they begin walking home together. "Do you want to study at my place at again?"

He laughs, a bit sheepishly, and rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, I didn't really get the English lesson today."

"...Me either," Tsuna admits, and they share a sympathetic grimace at the gruesome workload they have ahead of them.

This Moon Prince nonsense has given him one good thing, at least - he actually has a friend now. Yamamoto had approached him the day after they fought that batting center youma (Tsuna's taken to associating them with their stupidly effective schemes) and chatted with him as if they'd always known each other. It had been awkward at first because Tsuna has zero social skills, but Yamamoto is genial enough for the both of them and really easy to talk to.

Their friendship fell into place just like that, and as they both soon discovered, school assignments were much easier to slog through when another person was suffering with you. Studying and then hanging out at either of their houses has quickly become a common occurrence. Reborn usually coaches from the side via vaguely helpful yet derogatory comments, and he acts very put upon the whole time.

After Yamamoto leaves and heads home, Reborn finally returns from wherever it is he goes when he's not stalking Tsuna. He's probably out harassing random bystanders or making real babies cry or overturning some foreign country's government. Tsuna wouldn't put it past him.

"Ciaossu." He comes in through the window - because he doesn't want to be mistaken for anything approaching sane, Tsuna figures, not that he really has to worry about that - and immediately spots Tsuna's recently failed test on the table.

"Wow, Dame-Tsuna, you somehow managed to get every single answer wrong," Reborn observes. "And even after I spent so much of my free time tutoring you. I'll be the laughingstock of the galaxy at this rate. Take responsibility, Super Dame-Tsuna."

"Of course I'm not going to learn anything when you shoot at me while you're teaching! I'm too busy worrying about my life to listen!" Tsuna shouts, defensively and rightly so.

Reborn smirks. "This is the normal teaching method in the Moon Academy, Dame-Tsuna. Are you trying to undermine your heritage?"

Tsuna bangs his head on the table, repeatedly. He'll never win an argument with this stupidly unflappable person.

Once, Tsuna snaps that they don't need his help, and Reborn explains that he wouldn't be doing his job as Royal Adviser if he allowed Tsuna to remain so hopeless in any of his studies. Then he kicks Tsuna in the face and scolds him for being ungrateful. Yamamoto laughs at his pain because underneath that perpetual grin and clueless persona he's actually a horrible person, and somehow, Tsuna attracts them like flies to honey.

This is his life now. It's pretty pathetic that despite all of the craziness and crime fighting in booty shorts he's never been happier.

 **II.**

"It's not _that_ bad," Yamamoto actually manages to say with a straight face. Tsuna was watching him very closely. He didn't even hesitate. "I mean, sure, the shorts could be a little longer-"

"It's very warm out in space." That was Reborn. Also with a straight face. _Why._

"And I'm not sure what the tiara's for-"

"It was the height of fashion out in space." Tsuna kind of wants to scream. It's an urge he gets quite often around these two.

"Haha, oh, well, the whole thing's also really tight? It's, well, you know, it doesn't leave much to the imagination," Yamamoto adds, a little embarrassed now.

Reborn raises an eyebrow, silently judging. "Space has less air, so the clothes were made for scientific reasons such as that."

"Oh," he laughs, appeased. "I guess it's okay then."

Tsuna can't take it anymore.

"That doesn't even make any sense! You're definitely messing with us! I know you can change the design because you're _Reborn_ , and you can do anything you want!" He practically shrieks in his outrage and disbelief. " _'Space'_ is not an acceptable answer to the question _'why do I feel like a fan-service character?'_ or anything else actually! And you," he rounds on the ever-smiling Yamamoto, with a glare, "I can't tell if you actually believe what he's saying or are just playing along, but stop it. For the sake of the last little bit of my remaining sanity, _stop it_!"

"Sorry," Yamamoto apologizes, utterly insincerely.

"Don't get so flustered, Dame-Tsuna. It's not good for your health," Reborn retorts blithely.

Tsuna resists the urge to strangle them both and then seriously wonders why it would be a bad idea. Seems like it would take out three birds with one stone. No more crime-fighting, no more harassment, and no more appallingly unhelpful friends. It's disturbingly appealing. A small, reasonable voice reminds him that murder is illegal and that his mother would miss him in jail. He sadly dismisses the idea.

"So how many Senshi are there in total?" Tsuna brings up something that's been bothering him since Reborn mentioned there were other Guardians.

Reborn tilts his hat down to hide his expression. "I don't know how many made it through, but ideally, there should be seven other Guardians somewhere on this planet. Now that I've found you, the search should be easier," he explains, tone unreadable.

"Why is that?" Tsuna asks, confused.

Reborn smirks. "They'll be subconsciously drawn to you, like moths to a flame. Yamamoto is the norm, not the exception. We'll probably run into more Senshi as we battle youma, and they'll stand out one way or another."

"Great," Tsuna says, sarcastic. "Wonderful."

"What if there aren't any more Senshi?" Yamamoto asks in a rare moment of seriousness. "What if it's just us?"

Since properly befriending him, Tsuna's gotten the impression that Yamamoto Takeshi is far more perceptive than he leads people to believe, and this is just more proof of that. He looks to Reborn for an answer as well.

After an intense few minutes of silence: "The other Guardians are out there. We just need to find them."

Tsuna shares a look with Yamamoto. The other boy smiles. "Sounds easy enough. Tsuna just has to show everyone how amazing he is, and the others will come running."

Tsuna rolls his eyes. "I doubt - with every fiber of my being, by the way - that that is even a thing or that it would work."

In a blink-and-you-miss-it movement, Reborn whips out gun-Leon and levels it at him. "Don't be so pessimistic, Dame-Tsuna. These soldiers will look up to you as their leader. Have a little faith."

'I'm not even a leader in my own home!' He thinks with a healthy amount of irritation and fear. 'You're clearly the one who's giving orders here!'

"And don't you forget it," Reborn warns him smugly, somehow reading his thoughts yet again. Leon changes back.

Tsuna bites his tongue and screams internally.

 **III.**

"Oh, hi, Tsuna-kun!" A sweetly familiar voice greets him as he steps inside the Sunset Cafe and Arcade, and a smile lights his face as he spots the voice's owner. Sasagawa Kyoko waves him over. "It's been a while since I've seen you."

Tsuna tries not to grimace at the reason why he hasn't had time to stop by and see his first crush. Or reasons, rather. Instead, he says, "O-oh, well, I've been busy. With, uh, school, you know?" He laughs, a little nervously.

Kyoko nods as if he's said something totally reasonable. She gets a glint in her eye and observes, "Hmm, you seem different, Tsuna-kun."

"Different? How?" He asks, aiming for casual and probably hitting concerned.

After some thought, Kyoko smiles at him, and he holds steady against the sheer brightness of it. "You seem... happier. More relaxed."

He blinks. "Oh, really?" He certainly hasn't _felt_ very relaxed with all the fights and insults and inappropriate outfits, but he's not about to mention that to one of the only people he knows who doesn't actively try to embarrass him.

"Mm-hm. I'm glad," she tells him, as she begins sweeping again, and Tsuna only feels a little guilty for stopping her from working. She goes on, heedless of his inner struggles, "Rumor has it you've become friends with Yamamoto-kun."

Tsuna doesn't fight the grin at the happy feeling those words bring him, even if the boy himself is carefree enough that it makes his head hurt sometimes. "Yeah, I am."

"That's wonderful - for both of you. I told you to keep your chin up, and things would work out, didn't I?" She meets his gaze and then does a full-on crinkly-eyed smile with roses and sparkles popping up in the background, and Tsuna just knows his face is tomato red. She's too cute for _his_ own good. Ugh.

And then he takes in what she just said, and he's overcome with so much adoration and gratefulness for this one person that his heart swells. He clears his suddenly clogged throat. "You did. Thank you, Kyoko-chan," Tsuna says, warmly.

It's a nice moment, and it's probably the only time in the last month that he's felt so serene and at peace with himself. That's exactly why he really should have been prepared for something to come along and completely ruin it.

A scream pierces the comfortable silence, and with instincts unwillingly drilled into him, Tsuna whirls around toward the source of the noise rather than giving into his flight instincts and running away as fast as his feet can carry him. He spots the girl it belonged to immediately, cringing away from an older woman who is - now that he's searching for it - polluting the air with her dark energy. He bites back a curse (here? now? really?) and dithers between ducking into the back room to transform or calling Reborn or Yamamoto for backup, and in his indecision, the youma reveals her true grotesque, beetle-like form and wrecks the furniture around her with a swing of her enormous, spiked tail.

"This wasn't part of the plan, but surely Lord Byakuran will be pleased that I've found his lost, little jewel," she purrs, leering down at a frightened girl Tsuna's age. He doesn't recognize her. She has dark green hair and some kind of mark underneath her right eye, and she's clearly really scared.

The youma raises her arm as if to strike the girl, and Tsuna tenses to leap at her now that it's too late to slip away and change.

And then suddenly he doesn't have to. Seemingly out of nowhere, a broom smashes into the youma with deadly force, and she goes down hard enough that Tsuna's sure she won't be getting up again, especially when she crumbles into dust a few moments later.

A bell-like laugh chimes in the wake of the youma's defeat, and Tsuna stares at his friend, struck dumb with shock. Kyoko smiles sunnily, falling back to a normal stance with the broom at her side. "Please don't disturb the other customers, okay~?"

What. The. _Heck._

Tsuna blinks, and then rubs his eyes, and blinks again. Kyoko hasn't moved, has actually begun calmly sweeping up the ashes of the fallen youma, actually, and at the alien, incomprehensible sight, Tsuna just... gives up. He's done so much flailing and denying and panicking these past few weeks that he's too tired to react to- whatever this is. So Kyoko can one-hit K.O. a strong youma (and she must have been for her to be able to hide from Tsuna's Hyper Intuition, some of which has bled through to his normal state) with nothing on hand but a broom? Sure. It figures, actually, because he's always found her a little terrifying, and maybe it was just his Intuition being on point again.

So instead of freaking out or interrogating his friend, he simply droops a little, shakes his head, and drops into a nearby seat, suddenly exhausted.

"I was hoping for a better reaction than that," Reborn appears, hopping onto the table across from Tsuna. He sounds vaguely disappointed. "Your normal, _human_ crush just did your job better than you, Dame-Tsuna. Aren't you feeling surprised? Dejected? Inadequate?"

Tsuna scowls at him, irritated and not interested in rising to the sadistic baby's bait. "Not even a little bit."

" _Oh_?" Reborn drawls, raising an eyebrow. "So you don't want to know why Sasagawa was able to do that?"

"Tsuna-kun, do you mind helping me pick up the tables and chairs?" Kyoko calls to him from the other side of the room, as she shuffles around some of the other furniture and reassures customers. Tsuna would be surprised the remaining bystanders haven't fled yet, but Kyoko-chan has always had a magnetic pull that drives away common sense.

He shoots a dark look at Reborn, who is looking far too amused, and bites out, "No. Kyoko-chan kept whatever it is a secret for a reason, and I'm not going to pry. She's my _friend_."

He strides over to her, and with his help - and eventually her brother's once he returns from boxing practice - they get the store back to what it looked like before a demon wrecked the place. Sort of. The broken tile is going to need a professional, at the very least.

When Ryohei asks what happened, Kyoko catches Tsuna's eye meaningfully and then explains to her brother cheerfully, "A few kids from another school got into a fight. I was so scared! But they left soon enough, and Tsuna-kun helped me straighten up afterwards."

Ryohei grins just as brightly as his sister, his concern melting into relief. "I'm extremely glad nothing happened to you, Kyoko! I'll make sure to come home earlier tomorrow just in case they come back."

Kyoko returns his smile. "Thank you, nii-chan."

Tsuna has to look away from the blindingly bright scene unfolding in front of him, growing weirdly fond of Ryohei after this display of brotherly love and exasperated that two people could be so much like the sun in human form. He sort of understands the name of the cafe now.

A strong hand clamps down on his shoulder, and he finds himself crushed to a hard chest. A booming voice laughs in his ear.

"Thanks for looking after my sister, Sawada!" Ryohei exclaims gratefully, shaking him in his enthusiasm.

"You're welcome," Tsuna says awkwardly, unused to praise of any kind, much less for something he didn't do.

As Ryohei begins listing all the reasons Tsuna should join the boxing club (how did they get on that topic, exactly?) and Tsuna pretends to be interested, Kyoko giggles at him, and he sighs, a smile of his own pulling at his lips. He can handle a little awkwardness for her.

* * *

 **End Notes:** **Thanks again for the reviews! I'm so pleased you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. Also! This fic is going to be longer than I originally planned because I've become way too attached to the idea, so that's good news for you readers, yeah?**

 **(Oh! I should mention that while Tsuna considers Kyoko a friend, he didn't think she returned the sentiment, which is why he says he has no friends at the beginning. Silly boy.)**


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